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GovTrack

While this is a U.S.-centric site, many politically interested citizens of other countries will also find this site of interest, as the U.S. seems to have …uh… a large influence on world affairs. As the site itself notes, “Transparency in government is key for a healthy democracy. Transparency is achieved through spreading information about government, and making that information accessible to everyday citizens. GovTrack fills that role at the federal level by bringing together legislative data from existing government sources and presenting it in a more user-friendly format, and by providing the ability to track legislative events as they happen via email updates and RSS/Atom feeds. GovTrack is unique in providing its services for free and targeting the politically interested, civic-minded average Joe.” You can also check out the “Civics 101” primer from citizenJoe or “Government 101” from Project Vote Smart to learn how a bill becomes a law. It’s so much more interesting than you learned in grade school!